Welcome to a new Monday and a new meme.
In the year 1647, some 364 years ago in some Polish parish somewhere, was a priest with some free time at the end of the year 1646 or the beginning of 1647 and of course a good bit of artistic talent.
Stanczyk laughs at the priest’s macabre sense of whimsy. Forgive me that I forgot last year to capture the note of where I found this “artwork”. I am sure it was in a Digital Library or Archive and not from some microfilm I was viewing (see the red border).
Here in the USA, we have had a long tradition of viewing the New Year as a baby and the Old Year as an old man (usually with a long beard). But skeletons, one of which holds the Grim Reapers scythe??? Of course, I approve the use of an hourglass as a metaphor for the passage of time. Such embellishments and details. Perhaps he was reminiscing the old year’s (1646) significant passings :
- March 11 – Stanisław Koniecpolski, Polish soldier and statesman (b. c. 1592)
- December 22 – Peter Mogila, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (b. 1596)
At any rate, as I was reviewing my collection of digital pics from Church Books, it occurred to me that I have a new repeating meme: Embellishments, Oddities, and Notations found in Church Metrical Books.
I foresee discussing priestly entries (if I can find them,) such a notation about a meteorite that struck in the local parish. I also will include examples of marginalia or possibly end of year notations that a priest makes — one of which affects my family tree.
Meanwhile … it is time for some hot coffee. Talk to you later (God Willing) …
—Stanczyk
